Inner Strength
by madfishy
Summary: Its the final battle and Ron and Hermione are by Harrys side. That is, until, Ron crosses paths with Voldemorts wand...
1. Prologue

**Author Announcement - **Wow! I can finally say I am author! I mean cough cough Hello and welcome to my first ever fanfic! I have written many stories before but they have never been fanfiction. This is originally set the summer after the Sixth book, so before seventh year. I'm not sure what rating this story is going to end up being, so I am just going to start off by publishing it as T. Also, I know this chapter is mainly based on Harry, but the main storyline won't be. It will probably mostly be about Ron.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters used in the story (damn), but the plotline is entirely my own creation.

**Enjoy!

* * *

**

**Inner Strength**

**Prologue**

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood shoulder to shoulder on top of the hill, looking oddly impressive, silhouetted against a blood red sunset. It had taken them the entire summer to get to this point, hours of researching, months of training. But now here they were, as ready as they would ever be, waiting for Voldemort to arrive. How fitting that Voldemort had chosen to stage the final battle on the hill behind Godric's Hollow, where for Harry, it had all started.

The last months had been the worst and yet oddly the best few months of his life. It had been hard finding the strength to return to his Privet Drive, and even harder to return to his real home, where he and his parents once lived. It had been near damned impossible discovering where all the remaining horcruxes where, and working out how to destroy them… Although Harry was, in the end, the one to save the world, the one to do the actual destroying, Ron and Hermione had played a key part too. If Hermione hadn't worked out that it was really Sirius's brother, Regulus who had stolen that necklace (as soon as she said it, the golden trio had kicked themselves. It was the locket they had found on a shelf and had tried to force open in there time at Grimmauld Place!) and Ron hadn't turned out to be so incredible at learning and then teaching defensive magic… Harry would have never got this far.

Harry felt rather than saw his two best friends leaving his side and knew that they were ready to carry out the plan. The thought that his friends could be sneaking away, deserting him never even crossed his mind… they had come this far hadn't they? His friends would never, EVER leave him.

There was a sudden movement before him. Harry raised his wand and the light that cascaded from it crossed a dark hooded figure who had just Apparated into Godric's Hollow. Harry felt his grip tighten on him wand. This was it. The show down... the end for one of the two men.

Again, he felt rather than heard Hermione's incantation as she put anti-apparition charms around the entire hill so Voldemort could not receive back up… it was odd that he could sense this, but after working so closely with his two friends for the past few months, he had become in tune with their magical auras. At that very moment, he also knew that Ron was placing shield charms, the most powerful known to wizard kind, around the trio. There was no possible they would stop a killing curse, but a stunning spell was easily deflected.

Harry, fear flooding his body, began to walk towards his destiny. He appeared cool, confident and yet inside he was terrified.

"Good evening, Tom" he said into the deadly silent countryside.

Voldemort, never one for pleasantries, didn't even speak. He simply raised his wand and sent a deadly jet of light straight at Harry's chest. There was a flash of white as Ron reflected the curse, although he managed to remain hidden. Infuriated, Voldemort spun around, firing curses into the bushes, inches away from Ron. Hermione sent a curse directly at Voldemort that lifted him into the air and forced him to turn around, to look straight at Harry.

"I see you do not like to play fair, Potter. I have no support, why should you?" Voldemort spoke for the first time.

Harry, who was now metres away from Voldemort replied at once.

"You see, it's because I have something you will never have."

There was a pause as Voldemort sent the killing curse once again at Harry, which Harry dodged.

"Friends."

Ron and Hermione, who had silently crept up behind Voldemort, both cast there pre-prepared spell at Voldemort – Hermione, an incantation and immediately thick chains surrounded Voldemort, so he could no longer move. Ron's disabled Voldemort's ability to become an animagus.

"Goodbye, Tom." Harry stared directly into the cold red eyes in front of him, and knew this was it. Images of every person who had ever fought beside him, loved him, died for him flashed across his mind. He summoned all his strength and screamed into the night.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The jet of green light hit Voldemort squarely between the eyes. Voldemort rose into the air and sparks flew from the end of his wand, before he rolled over in the air and came back plummeting to the ground. His wand shot out of his hand and flew off across the sky.

As Voldemort's limp body hit the ground, the wand flew in a great arc across the sky. Before anyone had time to react, it struck Ron across the forehead. Like Voldemort had done before him, Ron's body flew metres above the ground, but this time, the aura surrounding Ron was blue, not red.

Just as Hermione and Harry realised what was happening, Ron's body gave an almighty tremble and slowly sank to the ground. He landed face down in the mud, absolutely motionless.

* * *

**AN/ If anyone has spotted any mistakes in this please say, because I know I have a lot of problems with names and spells. If anyone knows the correct spellings, tell me! Also, if anyone can think of a better summary (I hate writing them), speak up! Or title for that mater.**

Well, what did you think? Please R&R


	2. The Star

**Author Announcement – **Well, here is my first real chapter. I had some major spelling problems in my last chapter, and I still probably do, but I had to resubmit when I realised how badly I had spelt Voldemort. As you may have noticed, spelling is definitely my biggest weakest. I was in bottom set spelling at school :-( If anyone at all spots any mistakes, please tell me and I will try my best to correct them. If anyone wants to be my beta, I'd appreciate that even more!

Thank you very much to the three people who reviewed my story when it was first published. These have now unfortunately been deleted, as I had to completely delete my story to change the spellings.

BTW, does anyone know how I can change bits of a previous chapter without deleting the whole bang shoot?

Wow, this has been really long, sorry.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters used in the story (damn), but the plotline is entirely my own creation.

**Enjoy!

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**

**Inner Strength**

**Chapter 1 – The Star**

"Do you think he can hear us?"

"Well Harry, why don't you ask him?"

"Don't be stupid, Hermione. How's he supposed to answer me?"

"Harry, I was being sarcastic."

"Oh."

Hermione and Harry sat huddled around a large bed inside a Private room in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. The room was certainly one of the better rooms in the hospital – the finest that was available, in fact. The healers at the hospital had been very pleasant towards them – after all, they had just saved the wizarding world.

Hermione looked down into the face of one of her best friends. The deathly pale face of Ronald Weasley was turned slightly towards her, so she could clearly see every freckle on his shapely nose. Harry was staring uncomfortably at the thousands of cards that hung across the ceiling. It had been exactly like this for over a week - Hermione sitting practically in tears, Harry feeling out of place and Ron... well, just lying there, dead to the world.

The healers had done everything they could for him. They had patched him up on the hillside then took him to St Mungo's for immediate treatment. They tried everything they could to revive Ron, but he had finally slipped into a coma. There was no magic that could save him now.

His two friends had been at his side day and night, clinging onto the hope that the sound of them talking, laughing, joking would somehow revive him. But there efforts came to nothing. Ron was still absolutely motionless and deadly silent. He was barely even breathing.

Some thought that he was worse than dead.

The trio were supposed to be entering their final year at Hogwarts in less than a week. If Ron didn't wake up soon... Harry and Hermione didn't think they could stand going back to school one member of the golden trio short. It would be like… Fred without George or Crabe without Goyle.

Harry began to pace round the room, desperately trying for what felt like the millionth time to think of something that would pull Ron out of his deep slumber.

"Hey, Ron? I know you can hear me mate," Hermione noticed the almost pleading note in Harry's voice, "If you wake up now, I'll let you on the Quidditch team as keeper! I won't even try out McLaggen!"

He looked hopefully towards Ron.

Nothing.

"I'll even jinx McLaggen if you like."

The corners of Ron's mouth didn't even twitch.

"I'll read over every essay you ever produce. I'll practically write the things for you!" added Hermione. If the offer of less work didn't appeal to Ron enough to wake him, surely nothing would.

Still nothing.

It was all too much for Hermione. She slumped deep down into her chair and began to quietly sob. The last few months had been... so hard, yet incredible. Just when they should have been out celebrating with the rest of the wizarding world, she and Harry were cooped up in a claustrophobic room, praying that her friend would wake up.

Harry too was beginning to feel the strain for the situation. He had just killed his sworn enemy; he should be on cloud nine. Sure, he had just become a murder, but he always knew it would be worth it, if it meant that the wizarding world became a slightly safer place. However, he had never counted on the fact that the whole fiasco could end up endangering his best friend's life.

Harry looked over at Hermione who was now in floods of tears, and then turned to face Ron. He lay as still as a statue, pale but other than that, unharmed… apart from that ugly gash that now lay across his forehead. It was similar to Harry's, but although it was not yet fully healed (the healers in fact doubted it ever would be), you could just about make out the shape – a star.

Harry could not look at the gash for long without feeling overwhelmed himself. Harry began to walk towards Hermione, slightly hesitant, unsure of what to say or do. He was just an awkward teenage boy; he had never been any good at comforting people, look how it turned out with Cho!

"Hermione, don't cry," he said, realising how idiotic his words sounded the moment he said them.

Hermione continue to snivel and rummaged around in her sleeve for a tissue.

"Sometimes... we all need to cry."

Harry sighed.

"I know, 'Mione, I just didn't want you to set me off too."

Hermione laughed softly and then blew her nose. Harry walked towards her and enveloped her into a bear hug. Hermione collapsed, sobbing wildly into his open arms.

It was at that moment when Ron's right hand began to twitch.

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**AN/ If anyone has spotted any mistakes in this chapter as well, please say, because I know I have a lot of problems with names and spells. If anyone knows the correct spellings, tell me! Also, if anyone can think of a better summary (I hate writing them), speak up! Or title for that mater.**

**Thanks a lot for the review wally4ever, I really appreciate it! And thanks to Jay Alpha who has put me on her alert list! And her favourite's list! That is so cool.**

**Also, thanks a lot to Eirauqcam Suruaseht, MadRoswellFan and Greenpluff who reviewed this story before I was forced to delete it!**

**I really need to stop writing such long notes at the beginning and the end...**

**Well, what did you think? Please R&R **


	3. Only Ron

**Author Announcement – **Hey hey! How are you all doing? Well, here is the next chapter. Be warned, I fear that this chapter could get confusing. Be warned! And make sure you pay careful attention to what is in italics, and what is not. I will talk more at the end.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters used in the story (damn), but the plotline is entirely my own creation.

**Enjoy!

* * *

**

**Inner Strength**

**Chapter 2 - Only Ron**

_Dumbledore peered down at the boy in front of him. He let out a deep sigh._

"_You are a very special child."_

"_I am?" Ron questioned, sounding shocked._

"_You are," Dumbledore agreed. "You have a... gift."_

"_Gift? You call this a gift?"_

"_I do. Mr Weasley, you must understand. This is a blessing..."_

"_No, it's not! It's a bloody pain in the..."_

"_LISTEN to me, Ron," Dumbledore cut in, "We need to... investigate this further, study this a little deeper..."_

"_I am NOT a test subject!" Ron screamed. He jumped to his feat and glared at the man opposite him. "I am, however, leaving."_

_Before Dumbledore could say another word, Ron jumped to his feat._

_The room around him materialized, as it had so often done before. Now he was sitting at the edge of the lake, quietly leaning against a tree. He needed to think._

_This... this wasn't right. What Dumbledore was saying couldn't be true. His words were... simply ludicrous! It was not only that, it was... there was no other way to describe it, but the world he was in. The colours were very vivid, anything he wanted or needed just materialised in front of him, his every whim was accounted to... and the people, the people were different to. Nobody ever treat him like this before._

_He looked up, and suddenly noticed a girl and a boy, standing quite near him. The boy was holding the girl forcefully in his arms, and she was sobbing desperately. Whatever was happening, she was clearly being hurt badly._

_Ron gazed at the girls face. It immediately became into sharp focus._

_It was Hermione._

_Ron couldn't believe it. Hermione was in agony, she needed help. Lucky Ron was there to help her, really. Without even pausing to think, without even looking at Hermione's 'attacker', he delved deep into his pocket and clenched his fist tightly around his wand.

* * *

_

"Harry! Look, Harry!"

Hermione pointed at Ron's right hand, which was twitching again.

"My god!" Harry cried, forcefully grabbing her hand and dragging her closer to the bed where Ron lay.

* * *

_As Ron lifted his wand, Hermione's attacker forcefully tugged on her wrist and flung her towards a bed, which had materialized out of nowhere._

_Ron couldn't take it anymore. He took aim then cast a curse straight towards the dark haired man.

* * *

_

Harry began doing a dance on the spot.

"Oh yes, Harry, isn't this wonderful! I could dance to, but..."

"No Hermione!" Harry panted, "Something's wrong!"

"What?" she asked.

"I am not dancing," he said as his legs jerked him around the room,"It's a... curse!"

* * *

_Ron fired another spell at the attacker. He had to make the attacker feel the pain that Hermione was going through.

* * *

_

Harry was thrown backwards across the room and slammed into the wall. Hermione screamed as he slowly slid down the plaster and sank onto the floor.

"Harry! My god, Harry! Are you alright?"

Harry kept his eyes closed, and continue to lie where he was.

"Hermione, do I look alright?"

"Well no, of course not but... oh Harry!"

Hermione, who had still not stopped crying, sank to her knees beside him.

* * *

_Ron slowly walked towards the figure that was now huddled on the floor. He had not finished with the evil sod yet._

_Hermione ran sobbing towards the figure on the floor and flung her arms around him. This seemed rather odd behaviour to Ron, as he would certainly not hug an attacker if he had one. Fearing the worse, he slowly peered into the face of the man on the floor._

_It was Harry. His eyes were shut, and was obviously in pain (Ron had done a very good job of him). Ron continued to stare at Harry._

_He had just attacked Harry. Ronald Weasley had just attacked his best friend, hero of the world, Harry Potter. He could just not contemplate it._

_Harry was obviously dead, Ron could tell. And this world was so... strange. Now he had just become a murder, life seemed pointless. He did not deserve to live. Ron sat cross legged on the floor and closed his eyes. He looked deep inside his very sole.

* * *

_

"HARRY!" Hermione shrieked.

"What now?" said Harry, as he gingerly began to test his limbs.

"It's Ron! He's not breathing!"

For a moment, there was a terrible silence.

"Ron!" Hermione was screaming, "Oh, Ron!"

"Hermione, don't panic," said Harry in a voice that was several octaves deeper than his usual one, "I'll send for a healer."

Harry swished his wand through the air, and it a stag erupted from it. It galloped out of the door and round the corner to the nearest healer. Maybe the healers would be coming anyway after hearing all the racket he was making. Harry swished his wand through the air, and a stag erupted from it. It galloped out of the door and round the corner to the nearest healer. Maybe the healers would be coming anyway after hearing all the racket they were making.

"It's alright mate, it's alright," he said, more to Ron than Hermione. They both stood dumbfounded, no idea what to do, what to say. Ron couldn't be... he wouldn't... would he?

A healer came bursting through the white door and roughly pushed Harry and Hermione out of the way, screaming out to the other healers for back-up. Soon there were at least 10 fully trained healers in the room and Harry and Hermione were being forced further and further away from Ron.

"Perhaps it would be better if you and your little chum would leave, dearie," one said to Hermione.

"No!" answered Harry, who feared Hermione was unable to speak, "We're staying."

Harry grabbed Hermione's wrist once again and they forced there way nearer the bed. A healer had his wand placed gently on Ron's chest, pointing directly at his heart and was murmuring powerful enchantments. Sparks were flying, healers were shouting, Hermione was crying... it was pandemonium.

After about thirty seconds (although it felt like several decades to Harry and Hermione), the healer who was clearly in charge moved the wand from Ron's chest and let it gently fall against his side.

"I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do for him. Only Mr Weasley can save himself now."

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**Oooh! A cliff hanger. I could of continued, but then this chapter would have been longer than all my others. If you would rather I write longer chapters in the future, say.**

**AN/ I have decided to personally thank everyone who as reviewed me.**

**Wally4ever – **Thanks very much for being the first person to review me! It means a lot to me. Thanks for saying my stories good! I hope I updated soon enough for you…

**Madroswellfan – **_hits head_ Grrr! I never knew you could change chapters like that! Ah well, thanks for telling me and thanks for commenting :-)

**RandomSmirf13 – **Hey. I'm glad you like my story :-) Ok, giving me the pointer about more description. As much as I love people telling me I'm fantastic (which is true, lol) it is always useful to have constructive criticism. So thanks a lot.

**Evilheart89 – **Yay! Another person who loved my story! Hearing that makes me so happy. I hope I updated soon enough for you. And you have just read Ron's reaction for yourself!

**Stuf – **Hey :-) Thanks for giving me my longest review! Thanks for saying my stories good (wow, so many people, ok 5, my story!) I guess you were kind of right about Ron's reaction, but not entirely. It would have been good your way, but I had already planned out what was going to happen. I hope my way is still as good as you hoped! I can't promise you any Harry/Ginny just yet, because I'm not totally sure what's going to happen in the old romance department. I can promise you that Harry will get together with someone though. I would hate to see him all alone.

**And to the three people who reviewed the story before I deleted it...**

**Eirauqcam Suruaseht **– You were first EVER reviewer, so that really means a lot to me. Yeah, I hope in the real 7th book Harry does finish old Voldy of with a bit of Hermione and Ron's help.

**MadRoswellFan – **Hey! It is you again! Lol. Thanks again for reviewing. I agree, Ron is great. But sorry to disappoint you, but this is certainly not a Harry/Hermione story. Ron is the central character in this, and for a while I was toying around with him going out with many different people. I considered Ron/Hermione, Ron/Harry, Ron/Snape, Ron/Luna, Ron/OC, Ron/Lavender, Ron/Draco... but I think I know who it's going to be now.

But you never know, it might change.

**And finally, I must make a special to two absolutely amazing people – Kadie and Laura. In real life (not fanfic world) they are really good friends of mine. Kadie gave me a hand thinking up some of the main details in the main plotline. I know exactly what is going to happen to make this story interesting, but I still needed to think of a plot! I think I have one now though. Laura has agreed to be my Beta! She is perfect for this role as I swear she is a walking dictionary. Thanks girls! Love ya!**

**Over and out**

**xxxxx **

**Well, what did you think? Please R&R **


	4. Only Hermione

**Author Announcement – **Hello there! This is the long awaited third chapter. I'm sorry this has taken a while to be produced; my life has been absolutely manic lately.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters used in the story (damn), but the plotline is entirely my own creation.

**Enjoy!

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**

**Inner Strength**

**Chapter 3 –Only Hermione**

_Everything was deadly silent. It wasn't an awkward silence. More a... peaceful silence. Ron remained perfectly still. He was more relaxed than he had ever been in his life._

_This was a nice place, wherever he was. Ron couldn't quite make out the shapes and images that swirled around him, but he knew they would do him no harm. Nothing could hurt Ron anymore. _

_Ron began to hum quietly to himself. The noise echoed eerily around him. He stopped rather quickly. This place was actually beginning to freak him out now. He wished some of the shadows would move forward into the light. He even tried shouting at them, telling them to "show themselves!" But nothing would come forth from his mouth._

_This place wasn't just eerie now, it was downright scary. This wasn't right, wasn't natural! But Ron could think of nothing to do, nothing that would make it stop. He tried to move, but he found that he was literally trapped within his own body._

_He began to feel incredibly sleepy and could feel his eyelids beginning to droop. He wanted nothing more right now than to curl up in a tight ball and let his spirit fly..._

_Ron allowed his eyes to slowly slide shut. Finally, the good nap that he had been waiting for, for days...

* * *

_

Everything was deadly silent. It was a terrible, awkward silence. No one knew what to say or do. They stood there, waiting, waiting for what seemed absolutely impossible. But they waited, none the less, wanting their friend to awake from his deep, peaceful sleep.

After a while, the head healer looked down at his watch and gave a great sigh. He looked up again and looked into Harry's, then Hermione's eyes. He gave a small cough, and began to speak.

"I'm... terribly sorry. Mr Weasley has -"

"No!" screamed Hermione as she threw herself at Ron's limp body before Harry had time to even take in what had been said.

* * *

_Suddenly, an image appeared in front of Ron. It was perfectly clear. The lines were bold and solid. Not smudged into the background like they had been for days and days... The colours were oddly startling, and it made Ron's eyes hurt just to watch. What was even more painful was of who the images were of._

_It was Hermione. She was draped across a lifeless human form across the floor, sobbing her heart out. Tears were streaming against her scarlet cheeks which made a stark contrast to her deathly pale white skin. Ron's chest was in agony just looking at the terrible image before him. That was when he realised something. Hermione was crying over his own dead body. Not wanting to see himself lying there, in that state, and refusing to watch one of his best friends in so much agonising pain, he tried to turn his head away, but found once again that he couldn't._

_It was Ron's fault. All Ron's fault. Hermione was in terrible agony and he had caused it. He felt terrible; he knew that this was surely the end. He could not live anymore... nothing mattered to him. Even if Harry wasn't dead, this was so real. This was happening, he knew it. This was the first real thing he had seen in days, Ron knew somehow. Ron deserved to die._

_He tried to reach up to her, but he couldn't move. His body was absolutely rigid. He looked into Hermione's eyes. He would never see those beautiful hazel eyes ever again, the lovely caramel colour that he had gazed mesmerized into for so many years. He had to wake up. He needed to see those eyes, her face again._

_He tried. He desperately tried. But he couldn't._

_Ron looked at Hermione again. She was in terrible agony. Ron wanted it to end, wanted his pain to end, wanted to **die**, but if he died... his pain would end, but Hermione's never would. He felt a small, cold tear run down the side of his face. _

"_I'm so sorry…" He called out before coming to his realisation of what he had to do. _

_This wasn't for Ron; he could never manage it if it was for himself. This was for Hermione._

_He took a deep breath. Once again, he looked deep inside his soul.

* * *

_

Ron's eyes flew open as he took a shuddering gasp of breath.

* * *

**I know that wasn't a particularly long chapter, in fact it is my shortest chapter yet, but it seemed a good place to end and I really didn't want to pad out the story any more than that. The next chapter is probably going to be a hell of a lot longer.**

**Thank you so much to all my reviewers. I am so eternally grateful. I have again left you all a little comment. They aren't massively long, but at least it shows you guys that I really do appreciate you!**

**MadRoswellFan – **Thanks for reviewing again. Sorry it took so long.

**RandomSmrif13 – **Glad you liked it :)

**Gag Hafrunt – **Ok, I have got no idea what the hell your problem is. There is no need to attack my writing like that. This story can not be that bad as it written in word first then thoroughly spellchecked. I see you have not written any stories of your own. Write one and see how hard it is before your criticize everyone else, hey?

**Stuf – **Thanks for reviewing again. Glad you liked it. I'm not sure about Harry/Ginny... perhaps.

**Acinonyxjubatus**** – **Hey! Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad someone has finally said that my spelling isn't that bad, I agree I make the odd slip here and there, but it isn't as bad as that Gag dude was making out!

**Hippielover459**** – **Hey. Well, now you know what happened to Ron:)

**Psychopenguin16**** – **I'm glad you like it Jessie. And cookies! How thoughtful! I love cookies!

(:) eats cookies noisily (:)

**I would also like to say an incredibly big thank you to my fantastic friend, Kadie. She actually read this chapter before I published it, she changed my spelling and grammar (thank the lord!) and she added the odd word in here and there. She is an absolute angel and I love her to bits. Thank you!**

**Well, what did you think? Please R&R **


	5. Different

**Author Announcement – **Well, here we go. Your next little Harry Potter fix. I was quite a bit quick posting this chapter up, you should all be very proud of me.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters used in the story (damn), but the plotline is entirely my own creation.

**Enjoy!

* * *

**

**Inner Strength**

**Chapter 4 - Different**

------------------------------------Recap-----------------------------------

_This wasn't for Ron; he could never manage it if it was for himself. This was for Hermione._

_He took a deep breath. Once again, he looked deep inside his soul._

Ron's eyes flew open as he took a shuddering gasp of breath.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"**RON!"**

The healer's gasped. Harry gave a throaty cry and slumped against the side of the bed for support. Hermione screamed hysterically as Ron sat bolt upright taking in shuddering gasps of air.

Within seconds, the healers were circling Ron and trying to perform hundreds of different spells upon him, determined to check his status. Harry and Hermione were once again being forced away, but they stood their ground.

Ron's body seemed to relax slightly and some of the tension was released from his shoulders. He slowly looked up, his eyes slightly unfocussed.

"Where... where am I?"

He looked blearily around at the strangers that were circling him. 'Please god,' he thought 'not this again'.

That was until he found two familiar faces in the crowd who were staring directly at him, their eyes brimming with tears of joy.

Harry and Hermione.

Ron took one last look at them and promptly collapsed.

* * *

There was a moment of panic as everyone believed that Ron had once again fallen into another deadly coma. However, they were happily mistaken. Ron had fainted. 'The great prat,' Hermione thought affectionately. 

The healers begged Hermione and Harry to give them half an hour of peace to check Ron over. They turned their head to each other, and point blank refused. Finally, the healers proved to them that Ron's condition was now stable and he could come to no more harm – he just needed rest. They consented and were lead outside to a room across the hall. The staff tried to force food and drink into their hands before leaving the pair in peace.

Harry and Hermione felt completely overwhelmed. Within the space of five minutes, their best friend had collapsed, stopped breathing and appeared to have come back from the dead. It was an awful lot for anyone take in, especially two teenagers who had their whole lives ahead of them.

The duo sat in silence for a while just thinking. After that they began to chat awkwardly. They didn't discus what had just happened, that could jinx it, they just spoke about the future and what they would do once Ron was out of St Mungo's.

After almost forty minutes, a dumpy witch in a pinafore informed them that they could now go back and see Ron. Hermione and Harry leapt from their seats and hurtled back to Ron's private room. Hermione tried to once again throw herself at him, but an aurora restrained her.

"Oh no you don't, young lady. If you are going to be in here, there will be _conditions_!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and extracted herself from the healer's tight grip. She and Harry grabbed two rickety wooden chairs and pulled them as close to Ron's sleeping body as they could. The healer, who had finally introduced himself as Priestley, began to lecture them on what they could and couldn't do. Apparently they couldn't disturb him, touch him, so much as breath on him, but neither of them was really listening. They were staring in wonder at Ron and the gash that now permanently etched across his forehead.

Priestley began to walk towards the door, calling over his shoulder "I would normally not allow anyone to be in the room at this stage... but... as it's _you_…"

As he reached the door, he suddenly stopped. He slowly turned on the spot and faced the three people in the room.

"I would just like to say..." he mumbled, "thank you." He blushed and quickly disappeared through the door.

Harry guessed that they would be getting a lot of that from now on.

* * *

As soon as Hermione heard the door click shut, she leapt from her seat and strode the length of the room. Hermione picked up a glass of water and did something that she had been meaning to do for the last 40 minutes... 

She walked over to Ron and tipped the ice cold water over his head.

Ron jumped and his eyes sprung open at once. He had always hated cold showers.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he demanded. He looked up at the obvious moron in front of him, only to discover it was Hermione.

"Never, EVER do that again Ronald!"

"Do what?" he asked incredulously.

"Scare the living daylights out of me, that's what!"

"Only if you stop tipping water over me," Ron grumbled.

"Ron," Harry said in a very throaty voice.

"Harry, mate! How you doing?"

"Oh... not so bad, you know... You seem remarkably perky Ron, considering."

"I feel absolutely fine!" beamed Ron. He tried to get out of bed, but Hermione forced him back down.

"No, you mustn't move. Not after..."

"After _what_?" demanded Ron, "What the hell is going on here? No one has told me anything! You haven't told me where I am yet!"

Hermione and Harry exchanged a sad but meaningful look before turning back to Ron.

"I'm guessing this isn't the Burrow."

"No, Ron, it's not," answered Hermione sadly.

"You're in St Mungo's."

"I _am_?" asked Ron, "But _why_? I feel fine!"

Nobody answered him straight away, and Ron began to get frustrated.

"TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!"

Finally, Harry answered him.

"I think you had better look at this, mate."

Harry walked across the room and picked up a small mirror. He slowly walked back and handed it to Ron. Ron held the looking glass up to his eyes and stared into it.

It was the same old Ron he had seen every day of his life. Same blue eyes, same scattered freckles, same long nose... apart from one thing. Across his forehead was a scarlet gash in the shape of a star.

"Bloody hell!" Ron muttered under his breath, "It looks like - "

" - Mine, I know," interrupted Harry before Ron could continue.

"So... what happened? Where did... this come from?" Ron asked, gesturing wildly to his head.

"Ron, how much do you remember?"

"Oh, I can remember being all peaceful and Dumbledore telling me all this stuff and..."

Ron tailed off as he saw the look or Harry and Hermione's face.

"Ron... Dumbledore died, remember?" Harry said gently.

"Oh yeah!" Said Ron, smacking his palm against his forehead. He gave a little yelp of pain as he accidentally caught that awful scar.

"But how did I talk to him then?" asked Ron, beginning to get slightly worried now.

"I... I don't know," Hermione replied.

Ron thought for a moment. So everything that had happened in the last few days _had_ been just a dream. None of it was real! 'Thank god for that!' Ron thought. 'I didn't attack my best friend!' Still, he thought better not mention it... ever. What would his friends THINK of him? But right now, he was too concerned in finding out about the truth.

"The thing is, Ron, for the past week, you have been in..." Hermione's voiced trailed off into a whisper, "a coma."

"What!" Ron cried out, "Why?"

Harry sighed.

"You see, there was the final battle with Voldemort."

"Of course! The one we have been working towards for years! Did we win?"

"Well, yes I suppose. Voldemort's dead."

"Excellent!" said Ron, rubbing his hands together, "I guess we are pretty famous then, are we? Is that what happened to me? I got mobbed by fans?" he said, hopefully. Having fans had always been a dream of Ron's.

"No. You got smacked in the head with Voldemort's wand," Harry said simply.

"What? HUH?"

Harry repeated himself.

"My god... so... that's why..." Ron gestured towards both Harry's and his own scars.

"I guess," said Ron sadly.

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat, as if she was stealing herself up to do something.

"The thing is... we are not sure what the after effects are going to be. Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Ah."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"So what you're saying is... what are you saying? I could be... different?" Ron asked Harry.

"I...I don't know Ron"

Harry turned his back to Ron and started to pace the room.

* * *

**This chapter is a better length than the last one, so hope you're proud of me for that as well. I wasn't sure how to end this chapter though, so it seems to end fairly abruptly. Ah well.**

**Thank you so much to all my reviewers. I have SIXTEEN of them now! How cool is that! I am so eternally grateful. I have again left you all a little comment. They aren't massively long, but at least it shows you guys that I really do appreciate you!**

**MadRoswellFan – **Wahoo! A long review! Thanks a lot! So someone did notice my whole use of silences then. I see my talent is not going to waste! ;-) Indeed, "Ronny" is very much alive. Did you honestly think I could kill him off? Hopefully this story is going to have a happy ending, but my characters will probably not live in "bunny land" as you put it. And please do not steal my cookies. They are very sacred to me.

**Chubby Redburn – **Yay! Thanks for the luck as well. I think I am going to need it.

**Hogwartsgirl52 – **I'm glad you liked it, and I hoped this is a soon enough update!

**Psychopenguin16**** – **Hey Jessie. Did I really nearly have you in tears, or are you just saying that? If I did, that is so cool! I'm happy now. And I can't believe you left me cookies. AGAIN! I think I may share them with Kadie, or I might just be greedy and eat them all myself. Hehehe! My nickname at school used to be "Cookie". Are you psychic or something?

(:) eats second warm batch of cookies (:)

**Well, what did you think? Please R&R **


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